Tennis

Jannik Sinner has completed the coveted Golden Masters in tennis to become only the second man after Novak Djokovic to win all nine Masters 1000 events, the biggest tournaments outside the Grand Slams.

Top-ranked Sinner’s 6-4, 6-4 victory over Casper Ruud in Sunday’s final of the Italian Open also made him the first Italian man to win the tournament since Adriano Panatta in 1976.

“There’s no better place to complete this set,” Sinner said after winning the title and accomplishing the feat on the red clay of the Foro Italico in Rome in front of jubilant home fans who finally saw the half-century-long wait come to an end.

“For an Italian, it’s one of the most special places we play tennis in. To win at least once in my career means a lot to me.”

Djokovic completed the career set in 2018 in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the United States at the age of 31 and then went on to win each event at least twice. Sinner is 24, and with his only real rival, Carlos Alcaraz, currently sidelined due to a right wrist injury, he is proving hard to beat.

“Welcome to the exclusive club, Jannik,” Djokovic wrote on Instagram.

Sinner extended his winning streak to 29 matches. He hasn’t lost since being beaten by Jakub Mensik in the Qatar Open quarterfinals on February 19 . And he’s now 17-0 on clay this year as he is poised to enter the French Open, which starts on Sunday.

Sinner celebrated calmly as usual, revealing a wide smile when he landed an inside-out forehand on the line on his first championship point, then held his hands over his head in apparent relief. Then he waved to the crowd, which included former Italian professional tennis player Adriano Panatta sitting in the front row.

“Adriano, after 50 years, we’ve won back a very important trophy,” Sinner told the 75-year-old Panatta, who participated in the trophy ceremony.

Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam that Sinner hasn’t won. He has two Australian Open titles and has won Wimbledon and the US Open once each.

Sinner’s triumph came – also with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in attendance – after he lost last year’s final in Rome to Alcaraz in his first tournament back after a three-month doping ban. That defeat came a day after Jasmine Paolini became the first Italian woman to win the Rome singles title in 40 years. She also claimed the doubles trophy with Sara Errani.

With many of Sinner’s fans dressed in orange – his theme colour, which matches his curly hair – the capacity crowd of 10,500 on Campo Centrale created a football-style atmosphere with chanting and loud cheers for the player who has become far and away Italy’s most popular athlete.

After several key points, the crowd erupted into a cheer of “Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole; Sin-ner, Sin-ner.” Then there was more chanting during the trophy presentation.

Angelo Binaghi, the president of the Italian tennis federation, suggested that even if there was a 25,000-seat centre court in Rome – bigger than the US Open’s Arthur Ashe Stadium, the world’s largest tennis arena – it would have been full.

No signs of fatigue

Sinner overcame exhaustion to beat Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals in a rain-delayed match that required two days to finish. But there were no signs of fatigue against the 25th-ranked Ruud, who has been one of the circuit’s top clay-court players for years.

Ruud reached two finals at Roland Garros, losing to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and Djokovic in 2023. But the Norwegian wasted an early break and a 2-0 advantage at the start of the first set against Sinner, who quickly broke back and then broke again towards the end of the set with the help of three key drop shots – two of which were so well-placed that Ruud didn’t even run for them.

A big backhand winner up the line gave Sinner another break in the opening game of the second set.

Sinner improved to 5-0 in his career against Ruud.

“What you’re doing this year, it’s hard to describe in words,” Ruud told Sinner during the trophy ceremony. “It’s really an honour to watch you play. … Congratulations for making history.”

Day to remember for Italy

It was an extra special day for the host nation after Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori became the first Italian duo to win the men’s doubles title in Rome since 1960.

Bolelli and Vavassori beat Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (8), 6-7 (3), 10-3.

For both the singles and doubles finals, there was a packed crowd watching on a jumbo screen on the statue-lined court of the Nicola Pietrangeli Stadium next to Campo Centrale.

Elina Svitolina beat Coco Gauff in the women’s singles title match on Saturday.

Harvard-Westlake’s boys’ tennis team accomplished something on Friday few have done: topple Irvine University.

The Wolverines ended University’s four-year run as tennis champions with a 10-8 win at the Southern Section Division 1 championships. University is a 16-time champion.

Aiden Zadeh had an important win in singles. Chase Klugo and Aaron Chung swept their doubles competition. And Gideon Ames won the clinching set.

At a school that excels in many different sports, the Wolverines rose to the top. The season continues with regional and state competition.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Of the six British singles players who began the year in the top 100, Cameron Norrie is the only one to have avoided injury or illness, and he has returned impressively to the world’s top 20 in recent weeks.

Raducanu, 23, had been due to return at the Italian Open in Rome this week but withdrew after her media commitments on Tuesday with post-viral symptoms. Kartal is currently on track to reappear during the grass-court season, but the back injury the 24-year-old suffered during her run to the Indian Wells fourth round in March has cost her the entire clay swing.

Francesca Jones had a month out after a glute injury at the Australian Open and Draper’s comeback from his serious arm injury has been checked by a knee problem, while Fearnley came through qualifying in Rome after a seven-week absence.

British number three Katie Boulter, who tumbled out of the top 100 last year as she battled foot and hip injuries, says it can be hard to step away even if players have information to suggest their bodies are at breaking point.

Fitness trackers, which offer performance analysts a wealth of data, will be allowed on a trial basis at this year’s remaining three Grand Slams, as they have been for a while now on the men’s and women’s tours.

But Boulter, who has climbed back into the top 60, told BBC Sport: “I think it’s impossible as a tennis player to be like, ‘I’m going to take the week off because my wearable [device] says that I’m in red’.

“Financially, there might be people that don’t have that luxury to stop a week out of their schedule and not play – the majority of us are still trying to make a living.

“I’ve played through many injuries, I’ve also stopped through many injuries. Ultimately you have to make the best judgement call you can.

“It’s good to have that information, but it doesn’t necessarily marry up sometimes.”

The LTA has refreshed its entire physiotherapy staff over the past 18 months and believes it now has the right expertise to support the modern player. The next task is to consider how best to upgrade its recovery facilities.

British players have a lot more resources at their disposal than many other nationalities. An LTA physio was sent to Miami in March as Kartal started to realise the extent of her back problem, but the emphasis is also on players building their own support network.

Make it 17 and counting.

That is how many boys’ tennis titles Palisades has won in a row after its 18.5 to 11 victory over Taft in the City Section Open Division championship match Wednesday afternoon at Balboa Sports Center in Encino.

Freshman Kensho Ford, who reached the CIF singles semifinals at the Ojai tournament four days earlier, swept his four sets at No. 1 as expected — dropping a total of three games in the process — but what co-coaches Robert Silvers and Bud Kling did not anticipate was Zach Cohen sweeping at No. 4 to give the top-seeded Dolphins a split of the 16 possible singles points.

Cohen played No. 1 doubles with Zach Stuffman all season but was itching to play singles for the playoffs and wound up winning all six of his sets including two before being subbed out for the last two rotations in Monday’s semifinal rout of fourth-seeded Marshall.

“I’ve been asking for two years now and when Coach Rob told me Saturday I’d be in singles I was so excited,” said Cohen, who was also the Division I individual champion while pacing the Dolphins to their fifth straight cross-country team title in November at Elysian Park.

Five is nice, but 17 straight is a dynasty unparalleled in City Section history. No team in any sport from a City school has ever produced a longer streak and no coach has more City crowns than Kling’s 55 (33 boys, 22 girls). Palisades has also appeared in 21 straight finals. The last time two other schools met for the City’s upper division title was 2004 when El Camino Real defeated West Valley League rival Granada Hills.

Palisades got another surprise when the sophomore tandem of Josh Glaser and Bennett Murphy, who were bumped up to varsity a month earlier, won all three of ithebsets at No. 3 doubles, beating the Toreadors’ top two duos in tiebreakers.

Taft’s Dannes Djalilov won two sets at No. 1 singles during Wednesday’s City Section Open Division tennis final.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Danees Djalilov took two of his four sets at No. 1 singles and Brandon Celestine did the same at No. 4 for the second-seeded Toreadors, who were the last team to defeat Palisades in the finals — doing so in 2007 and 2008 led by two-time City individual singles winner Josh Tchan.

Moments after Ford finished off his 6-0 victory over Alec Volodarskiy to move his team within half a point of the championship, Stuffman and new partner Jack Plotkowski put the Dolphins over the 15-point threshold by completing a sweep at No. 1 doubles with a 6-2 ousting of Taft’s No. 2 team.

Taft was seeking its eighth City title and first since winning Division II in 2019.